Monday, August 20, 2007

Toward Whitehorse

Today was a travel day and not much more. We continued our journey toward Whitehorse after leaving our campsite about 11 AM. The road was paved but there were some frost heaves so we took it fairly slow. Then we hit a stretch where they had recently chip sealed the surface so there were small rocks up to ¾ inch in diameter all over the road. There is no way to stop them from being thrown everywhere and many vehicles do not slow down when meeting other vehicles. I always do, but we had lots of rocks thrown our way. Fortunately none of them hit the windshield or headlights hard enough to break anything.

The other bad thing about rocks is that the rear tires pick them up and throw them at the front of the trailer, even though my mud flaps come within an inch of the road. This is making a mess of the front of the trailer. When we get back to the lower 48 we will have to have it repaired in some way. I am toying with the idea of having it coated with Line‑X or a similar product. That is a spray on material like the coating on my truck bed and what many people have sprayed in their pickups to line them. It comes in many colors and is almost indestructible. Some people are even using it to replace their rubber roofs on RV’s.

This road is not like most roads we have been on in the north country. We sometimes went many miles with no place to pull off the road. It took almost an hour to find a decent place to stop for lunch and when we were ready to stop for the day the only good place we could find was a Yukon park. It is similar to a forest service campground which means we have to pay $12 for nothing but a place to park. And, it is right next to the road so it is not any less noisy than the pullout we were in last night. At least there is not much traffic.

It has rained off and on all day so it is kind of gloomy. Looks like the only summer we will see was the really warm day in Dawson City. We should be in Whitehorse tomorrow.